Staff Bios
Wendy Everett, ScD
A pioneer and national health care leader, Wendy Everett, ScD, has dedicated her career to improving the quality and affordability of health care across the country, passionately supporting innovative approaches that stem rising health care costs and inefficiencies in the system.
With a breadth of health care experience spanning 40 years, Dr. Everett was chosen to oversee the formation of the NEHI in 2002 as its first president. Along with NEHI’s founders, Dr. Everett’s vision was to create an independent, research-based organization that convened diverse members of the health care industry to achieve the common goal of addressing the most urgent health care issues.
Under her leadership, this vision has resulted in ground breaking research on medical innovation, patient safety, health care spending and health care information technology, and has influenced significant national policy changes. Dr. Everett works with public and private policymakers to translate NEHI’s research findings into long-term solutions that improve health care quality and lower health care costs.
Previously, Dr. Everett held executive positions at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center (UCSF) and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. She has directed national demonstration programs for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Kaiser Family Foundations. In the mid-1990s, she was Director of the Institute for the Future, leading the Health and Health Care research team and overseeing the creation of ten-year, national forecasts in health and health care.
In addition, she has served on the boards of many philanthropic foundations and non-profit organizations. Dr. Everett earned two bachelor of science degrees, and she holds master’s and doctoral degrees in health policy and management from Harvard University.
Valerie Fleishman
Valerie Fleishman provides the strategic and operational direction for NEHI. As Executive Director, she oversees the institute’s policy research, programs, operations, fundraising and communications. Under her leadership, NEHI's programs seek to improve chronic illness care, promote disease prevention and wellness, and speed the adoption of valuable innovations across the health care system. She has authored numerous reports, articles and briefs on a wide range of health policy issues.
Ms. Fleishman joined NEHI at its founding in 2002. She has over fifteen years’ experience in health care, health policy, technology and innovation. Prior to joining NEHI, Ms. Fleishman was a director in Health and Wellness at Scient Corporation, where she led strategic consulting engagements with leading biotechnology, medical device and pharmaceutical clients in areas such as telemedicine, disease management, health information technology, clinical trials, and sales and marketing strategies.
Previously, Ms. Fleishman was a manager in Arthur D. Little's Global Strategy Practice. She also worked in product management and brand marketing at Johnson & Johnson's McNeil Consumer Products.
Ms. Fleishman received her BA, cum laude, from Harvard University and her MBA from the Harvard Business School. In 2008, she was honored as one of Boston’s "40 under 40" by the Boston Business Journal.
Sheila K. Fifer, PhD
Sheila Fifer is a senior advisor for NEHI, working on the FAST (Fast Adoption of Significant Technologies) Initiative. She is a member of Mercer-Marsh's National Panel of Senior Healthcare Advisors where she is involved in projects concerning employer’s management of health care costs and employer benefits. She also serves as Panel Member for the Blue Shield of California Foundation’s California Technology Assessment Forum (CTAF).
Dr. Fifer founded the Technology Assessment Group (TAG). As president and board chairman, she directed its expansion to multiple US and Canadian offices and opened an office in Oxford, England to manage a practice in international trials and studies. The firm conducted economic, reimbursement, survey, quality of life, outcomes assessment, and health-policy research and designed disease management interventions.
She consults for biotech and pharma firms on product market research and product valuation through outcomes research strategies, and for wellness firms in patient support services. Dr. Fifer began her career in government where she worked at the Congressional Budget Office and other policy and research organizations. She completed her BA at Brown University, and obtained both her MA and PhD in Public Policy at the University of Virginia, Woodrow Wilson School of Government.
Nick King
Nick King works to bring NEHI’s vision to the professional world and the public. He focuses on promoting, publicizing, and getting media coverage for NEHI’s reports and initiatives, and on making sure that NEHI connects with our broad membership base. He also works to make sure that NEHI’s reports reach the health care policy makers.
Nick King brings extensive experience in journalism and communications - including writing, editing and strategic planning - to his role at NEHI, where he is the organization’s first director of communications. He comes to NEHI from the Boston Globe, where he held a series of increasingly high-level positions over 30 years. Most recently he was editor of the newspaper’s opinion page, where he solicited articles from outside experts ranging from Nobel Prize winners to community activists. Prior to that, Mr. King was the editor of the Globe’s special sections, overseeing the conception, production and marketing of ”The New Boston,’’ a special issue published during the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.
Mr. King was also editor of the Boston Globe Magazine and served on a strategic planning committee charged with redesigning and relaunching the weekly publication. In addition, he was editor of the Globe’s feature section and editor of its Sunday 'think’ section. As editor of the paper’s State House and City Hall bureaus, Mr. King organized and directed coverage of the 1984 John Kerry-Ray Shamie US Senate campaign. Prior to these editing positions, he was a reporter whose beats included covering Govs. Michael S. Dukakis and Edward J. King, state and national legal affairs, and metropolitan news. Before joining the Globe, he was a reporter at the Berkshire Eagle in Western Massachusetts.
During the course of his journalism career, Mr. King has won numerous awards for excellence, including from the Sunday Magazine Editors Association, the Society for News design, and the Art Directors Club. In 1975, he was a member of the Globe team covering the school busing crisis in Boston, for which the paper received the Pulitzer Prize for public service, considered journalism’s most prestigious award.
Mr. King is a graduate of Harvard University with a BA in English.
Tom Hubbard
Tom Hubbard leads NEHI’s projects on comparative effectiveness research, patient medication adherence, and prevention and wellness initiatives. Mr. Hubbard leverages his policy and technology experience to examine ways the country’s health care system can be transformed, focusing on the promotion of medical innovation and the improvement of quality and efficiency in clinical care.
Mr. Hubbard came to NEHI after seven years at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC), where he led industry-focused projects and supervised the annual publication of the MTC Index of the Massachusetts Innovation Economy. His work has included supervising the I-495 Technology Corridor Partnership, an industry-municipal collaboration on growth, and leading projects on broadband deployment, federal research funding advocacy, and nanotechnology.
Previously, Mr. Hubbard served as Executive Assistant for Economic Affairs to U.S. Senator John Kerry, as Deputy Director of Development for Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, and as Director of Community Development and Planning for the City of Gardner, Massachusetts.
He is a graduate of Harvard College and holds a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
Lisa Payne Simon
Lisa Payne Simon, MPH leads NEHI's Fast Adoption of Significant Technologies initiative, currently focusing on home telehealth and tele-ICU projects. Her areas of expertise include healthcare quality improvement, health technology, hospital-acquired infection, health services research and project management and evaluation. With over thirteen years experience in health philanthropy, she has designed and managed dozens of foundation grant programs and initiatives.
Ms. Payne Simon has been a consultant and senior advisor to healthcare improvement initiatives and foundations across the nation. Her recent clients include the Community Health Foundation of Western & Central New York, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the P2 Collaborative of Western New York (an Aligning Forces for Quality grantee), the Blue Shield of California Foundation and the California HealthCare Foundation.
She was formerly director of the Blue Shield of California Foundation’s Health and Technology Program and led the Foundation’s California Technology Assessment Forum activities. Previously, Ms. Payne Simon held a number of positions at the California HealthCare Foundation, including senior program officer and deputy director of the Quality Initiative. Prior to that, Ms. Payne Simon was manager of Medical Outcomes Research with Blue Cross of California.
Ms. Payne Simon has a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a master’s degree in public health with a concentration in epidemiology and biostatistics, from the University of California, Berkeley.
Brian Schuetz
Brian Schuetz’s work at NEHI is focused on the FAST initiative and the organization’s work examining the impact of comparative effectiveness research on innovation in the U.S. healthcare system.
Mr. Schuetz's experience is focused in health policy research and development, specifically in the areas of health care reform, women’s health, elder health, and prescription drug issues. Prior to joining NEHI, he worked in the Public Sector Strategy and Operations Practice at Deloitte Consulting. Previously, he served as Acting and Assistant Director of the Women’s Health Policy and Advocacy Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and as Research Fellow for the Heinz Family Philanthropies, a health and environmental policy organization in Washington, DC
Mr. Schuetz holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Tufts University and received his Masters of Science in Public Policy from the London School of Economics in the United Kingdom.
Rushmie Kalke Nofsinger
Rushmie Kalke Nofsinger blends her passion for positive change and experience in communications, journalism and public relations to advance NEHI’s goal of transforming the country’s healthcare system for the benefit of patients and their families. She has more than 10 years of communications experience with expertise in messaging, media relations and developing thought leadership initiatives.
Prior to joining NEHI, Ms. Nofsinger worked as a communications consultant for M+R Strategic Services in Washington, D.C. She collaborated with clients to create effective communications campaigns for the purpose of changing policy, attitudes and educating the public on important and timely issues such as social justice, economic development and renewable energy.
Previously, Ms. Nofsinger was a member of the marketing team at State Street Global Advisors in Boston, where she was a senior financial writer and oversaw the development of thought leadership programs and marketing campaigns. She is also a former reporter and has written for various publications including the Boston Globe, Boston Magazine, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and the Eagle-Tribune.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the College of the Holy Cross and a master’s degree in business and economics journalism from Boston University.
Pamela Milton
Pamela Milton is the administrative genius behind NEHI’s success. She works in a variety of areas and oversees recruiting, training and supervising administrative help, administration of benefits, vendor relations and space management. She also works with outside experts to arrange meetings and conferences.
Ms. Milton has extensive administrative, finance, technology, and office management experience in both non-profit and educational organizations. Prior to joining NEHI, she served as Senior Executive Assistant to the President of Citizens International, the non-profit energy services consulting firm headed by former U.S. Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II. Ms. Milton also served as the Senior Staff Accountant to the Chief Financial Officer at Citizens Energy Corporation. Her positions at Citizens required a great deal of contact in the U.S. and abroad with foundations, ambassadors, ministers and presidential offices.
Before joining Citizens, Ms. Milton served as the Senior Staff Accountant for Arichelle Technologies and the Folsom Cordova Unified School District. She is also a five-time United States Dance and Figure Skating Champion and Gold Medalist.
Erin Zuena Bartolini
Erin Zuena Bartolini undertakes the day-to-day research, analysis and policy activities in NEHI’s high priority program areas.
Prior to joining NEHI, Ms. Bartolini worked as a Consultant in the Health Care and Life Science Strategy and Operations Practice at Deloitte Consulting. She served clients from across the health care industry on various health reform-related engagements. Previously, Ms. Bartolini was a Research Associate at Genzyme Corporation where she developed cell lines and assays for manufacturing and gained a deep understanding of research and development. She also held graduate internships in global pricing strategy at Genzyme Corporation and clinical business development at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Ms. Bartolini holds her bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Tufts University and a master’s degree in Health Policy and Management from Harvard School of Public Health.
Sonia Furtado
Sonia Furtado provides key support to NEHI's communications team. She oversees NEHI's social media, develops collateral and assists with media outreach. In addition, Ms. Furtado provides vital support on event planning.
Prior to joining NEHI, Ms. Furtado was a sales supervisor at Charles David of California and a productivity consultant at Franklin Covey Co. While working in retail, Ms. Furtado trained new employees on sales standards and educated them on product knowledge. Ms. Furtado was also a camp counselor for five consecutive summers at the Cambridge Youth Enrichment Program, a non-profit camp run by Phillips Brooks House Association that offers affordable camp for children in Cambridge.
Ms. Furtado is a member of the Phi Theta Kappa honor society and received her Associate’s Degree in Business Administration from Bunker Hill Community College. She is a Griffin Scholar at Suffolk University’s Sawyer School of Business where she studies marketing and management.
Nick McNeill
As the Health Policy Associate, Nick McNeill undertakes the day-to-day research, analysis and policy activities in NEHI’s high priority program areas.
Prior to joining NEHI, he worked as a consultant with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, where he created surveys, conducted interviews and focus groups, and wrote a narrative for MDPH’s Maternal and Children Health Block Grant Title V Needs Assessment. In addition to his work at MDPH, Mr. McNeill was also a fellow in the LEND Program at Children’s Hospital in Boston, which develops leadership potential in those working with young people who have neurodevelopmental disabilities. He has also worked as an Assistant Director of Fund Development at Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket, RI, and as an EMT-B at EasCare Ambulance in Boston.
Mr. McNeill received his B.S. degree in Health Policy & Management at Providence College in Rhode Island. He recently graduated from the Boston University School of Public Health with a Masters of Public Health in Health Policy & Management
Sheri Tewhey
Sheri Tewhey supports membership and development efforts at NEHI, where she focuses on enhancing the organization's network of members and partners.
Prior to joining NEHI, Sheri was a manager at Circuit City Stores, Inc. and performed administrative support at Macy’s. While working in the retail industry, Ms. Tewhey managed operations and new business concepts for Circuit City, training associates and managers on new or improved processes and provided feedback to the corporate office team. Ms. Tewhey also volunteered at the Animal Rescue League of Boston, lending administrative support at their Boston Veterinary Care office.
Ms. Tewhey earned her B.S. in Sociology with a minor in business from Northeastern University.
Ev Evnen
Ev Evnen supports the operations department and maintains the organization’s database platform and infrastructure.
Before joining NEHI, Ms. Evnen worked at Apple in the role of Expert. While not on the sales floor, she was creating trainings for the store’s staff and mentoring other sales associates. Ms. Evnen has a love for all things in the world of technology and is happy to apply that enthusiasm to her role at NEHI. During college, Ms. Evnen interned at Friendship Home, a shelter for survivors of domestic violence, doing database and development work. Ms. Evnen also plays for Boston’s top women’s rugby team, Beantown, currently ranked second in the nation.
Ms. Evnen is a recent graduate from Wesleyan University with a major in American Studies and a certificate in Jewish and Israeli Studies.
Cate Jones
Cate Jones provides key support to NEHI’s executive leadership, overseeing a broad range of organizational activities.
Prior to joining NEHI, Ms. Jones was an administrative assistant at the Vocational Advancement Center in Brighton, a non-profit that provides training and employment services to people with disabilities, helping them achieve career goals and improve their quality of life. Ms. Jones also spent three years in Oxford, England working as the Children’s Ministry Worker in a large parish church where she directed and organized the programs and events for more than 150 children and their families.
Ms. Jones earned an Associate’s Degree in Visual Communications from The American Intercontinental University in London.
Jillian Maccini
Jillian Maccini supports membership and development efforts at NEHI, where she focuses on enhancing the organization's network of members and partners.
Prior to joining NEHI, Jillian worked as a marketing and communications consultant for several small businesses and non-profits in the Greater Boston area while attending graduate school. She worked closely with these organizations to create meaningful marketing and branding strategies that harness the power of today’s most relevant tools in a cost effective and efficient manner. Prior to graduate school, she held the positions of Regional Marketing Coordinator and New Development Coordinator at two of the area’s premier real estate companies.
Ms. Maccini holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and will graduate from Simmons School of management with a master’s in business administration with a health care administration concentration in 2012.
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